How long does it take for a bruised and smashed fingernail to heal?

Not if you don’t lose it, it has to grow out. Got one of those from three or four weeks ago. It’s on my bird finger so it adds to the affect.

@Adirondackwannabe So the bruise, blood pooling, gets pushed out as the nail continues to grow?

Oh yeah. It doesn’t go away.

^^^ Pffft, well…I guess I could always paint my nails black. lol
My oh, so, exciting quarterly question.

You’ll loose the nail, been there done that. The pooling blood separates the nail from the nail bed. As I have just figured out.. in the spring your nails grow fast so in August it’ll probably be gone and then in December you’ll have a new nail.

I know for me it could take up to about 2 months or so. Depending on how bad it is and how close to the tip of the nail it is. Then again my bruises take a long time to heal. I recently discovered while taking vitamin C that my bruises heal a lot faster than they ever did. Before a bruise that would take a month to heal will only take a week now to heal. I’ve tried vitamin D and vitamin E before and even A. But none of them made a difference. C worked best for me.

@ARE_you_kidding_me Really? Even though there was no crack or crush going on? Ewww…ewwww, ewww.
@Pandora Yes, I take Vit. C daily 1000mgs. at least. I’ve been a C fan forever. It also helps form collagen and is great for your skin, but you probably know that already. :-)

Did you bang it near the lunula? If so then yes, you’ll loose it.

@ARE_you_kidding_me It was at the base of my thumbnail and the bruise is a expanding, cone shape going up the nail but no cracking anywhere, just black blood. lol

You may loose it then.

My father drilled a hole in my fingernail to drain the blood out once when I crushed a finger with a hammer blow. I didn’t lose the nail, but a new one grew out under the old one and eventually it dislodged the old one. Well, maybe that counts as losing the nail.

I once got a finger caught in a car door closing on it so it got punctured in the center also. It was months and months before it was resolved. Fortunately no infection but it hurt like hell.

It takes, on average, about 4 months to grow a complete new nail, assuming that the bed is healthy. I have been watching a small dent work its way up for several months now and it is approaching the area where the nail hits the part that is white (the area you clip or file. I suppose it has an official name.)

@ARE_you_kidding_me: Lose and not loose.

Hmmmm….well it will be interesting to see if the nail separates eventually or the mass just gets pushed to the tip and can be grown/clipped away. I was surprised it didn’t fracture, it was a good squash in the door jamb.

@gailcalled oops.

Coordination A+!

I smashed my thumb nail last July working on my friends deck and it took until December for the nail to grow out completely.

Seems like there is a jelly consensus: it takes a long time. I think you likely will lose the nail and there will be a thin nail under it ready to protect your finger. Maybe it will just grow out though? Probably depends how bad it is. Let us know what happens.

@JLeslie I am sure everyone will be waiting with baited breath for the exciting outcome. lol

Yes, @Coloma, ”...it will be interesting to see if the nail separates eventually or…” simply facinating!. Please, please, PLEASE keep us updated!

It’ll be Fluther’s version of “Who Shot J.R.?”

;-P

^^^ LOL….. pathetic. haha

I just had to call you out.

Personally, I think it has to do with your metabolism. I usually take 3–5 days to color after I get a bruise, but it goes away just as quickly. I find bruises all the time that I have no idea what happened.

^^^ Midlife dementia. haha
I had this huge lump on my arm a few weeks ago and light bruising and I had NO idea what the hell happened.

Don’t feel bad, at least you can use loose and lose properly. I swear to god spell check has ruined my English.

The last time I banged a nail really bad and blood pooled up under it I waited a week or so and then took a hot needle and relieved the pressure. I was shocked by the amount of blood that came out. The whole fingernail was loose except for a little at the end that had not grown out yet and was still attached to the nail bed. I did end up just gritting my teeth and taking care of the rest. A new nail grew out slowly but it was strange having one finger without a nail for a while.

I barely slept last night wondering what will happen.

^^^^ LOL

Still the same no pain just ugly. haha

Yeah, it’s been in the back of my mind, nagging me, all day, @JLeslie. Like a…a…a hangnail!

My finger was smashed about two months ago. I do believe that theres blood caught underneath, but theres two white sections of the finger nail and theyre growing very slowly. Does that mean its healing?